


The Pain of Memory

by acesquared



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 10:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11804319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acesquared/pseuds/acesquared
Summary: Some misplaced photos trigger some unanticipated feelings of grief.





	The Pain of Memory

Lena sighed tiredly and slipped her messenger bag from her shoulder and to the floor as she walked through the door of her flat in King’s Row. Taking a moment, she just closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Cocking her head to the side, her brow furrowed slightly and she opened her eyes. There was a very _specific_ stillness that came over her apartment when she had a _certain guest_. A tiny hint of a smile flickering at her lips, she pushed through out into the hallway and glanced around her living room before walking back to the bedroom. “Amélie…?” She pushed the door open and for a moment she froze.

There, in the middle of the bed, Widowmaker sat. That wasn’t what had caused the speedster to stop in her tracks. No. It was everything else. Photographs. Actual _printed_ photographs, scattered around the bed. Some had fallen on the floor. The box they had been in – covered in almost a quarter inch film of dust – lay open on the bed.

“Chérie…” Amélie looked surprised to see Lena – caught by surprise? How immersed had she been in her activity?

After several painfully long moments, Lena let out a long sigh and her shoulders slumped. Slowly, feet dragging, she made her way over to the bed. She hesitated for a moment, almost bending over as if to pick up the photos that had dropped, but her hand shook so much she thought better of it and straightened again, slowly sitting down next to the woman.

“Where’d ya’ find these, luv?” Lena asked, her voice taking on an uncharacteristic empty quality.

“The box was… It looked as if it had been knocked out from under the bed… I’m—Should I put them away?” she asked. Normally she wasn’t quite so gentle with the agent – her rival… her lover – but Lena seemed so fragile right then.

Swallowing, Lena looked down at the picture in the sniper’s hand and shook her head. “Nah… ‘t’s alrigh’ luv…” She sniffed and reached out to trace one of the faces in the picture with a shaking finger.

“Who is he, chérie?”

Lena didn’t answer for several moments, her hand dropping back down. “’e’s my brother, Teddy… Leas’ ‘e _was_.” She swallowed. “’e’s dead now…” She blinked and looked away from the picture, taking a shaky breath as she tried to force back the tears once more.

“Tha’ picture… ‘t was taken when I earned my wings… ‘e ‘ad graduated two years b’fore me… ‘appiest day of our lives… Finally we coul’ fly together, yeah?” She looked around at the dozens of pictures scattered all around. “All of him…” she murmured softly, a shudder passing through her body.

“How did he…?” Amélie was almost afraid to finish the question.

“Plane crashed… routine training exercise…” Lena shrugged and quickly got to her feet, pacing the room, unable to stay still any longer.

Amélie quickly discarded the photos in her hand and went to the distressed girl. Taking gentle hold of both shoulders, she pulled her to a stop and looked down into her eyes. “Lena, ma chérie, I’ll put them away…”

Lena trembled slightly and looked back over her shoulder at the scattered pictures. “No… It’s alrigh’ luv… I’ll… I’ll ge’ them la’er, yeah? Le’s jus’…” she trailed off and turned to the side, her hand sliding up to grab the widow’s wrist and start pulling her back off toward the living room, toward the kitchen. Tea sounded really nice right about then.

 

Hours later after tea and some _other_ distracting activities, the widow returned to Lena’s bedroom, leaving the exhausted Overwatch agent where she had fallen asleep on the couch. Pulling on one of Lena’s shirts – a favorite of Widow’s – the sniper carefully picked her way through the photos. Knowing now who the young man in them was, she took several moments to really look at them.

Her eyes kept going back to the face of the young girl in the pictures, eyes bright and face plastered with a beaming smile. A pang went through Amélie’s chest seeing that smile. She had finally realized what had bothered her about these pictures upon first glance. While she had seen Lena smile, she had never seen her smile like this – smile with her whole soul, smile like the world was at her fingertips and all she had to do was grab hold of it. The Lena she knew was on the Lena from these pictures. Whoever this _Teddy_ was, he had left a scar on the girl deeper than any wound Widowmaker had ever inflicted.

Hearing Lena shift on the couch in the other room, Amélie was roused from her thoughts. Pressing her lips together, she quickly gathered up the pictures and carefully placed them back in the box. Brushing the layer of dust off the top, she hesitated before bending down and sliding it back under the bed, burying those memories back where Lena had left them.


End file.
